Mailpiece fabrication systems such as mailpiece inserters and mailpiece wrappers are typically used by organizations such as banks, insurance companies, and utility companies to periodically produce a large volume of mail, e.g., monthly billing or shareholders income/dividend statements. In many respects, mailpiece inserters are analogous to automated assembly equipment inasmuch as sheets, inserts and envelopes are conveyed along a feed path and assembled in, or at, various modules of the mailpiece inserter. That is, the various modules work cooperatively to process the sheets until a finished mailpiece is produced.
Mailpiece inserters include a variety of apparatus/modules for conveying and processing a substrate/sheet material along the feed path. Commonly mailpiece inserters include apparatus/modules for (i) feeding and singulating printed content in a “feeder module”, (ii) accumulating the content to form a multi-sheet collation in an “accumulator”, (iii) folding the content to produce a variety of fold configurations such as a C-fold, Z-fold, bi-fold and gate fold, in a “folder”, (iv) feeding mailpiece inserts such as coupons, brochures, and pamphlets, in combination with the content, in a “chassis module” (v) inserting the folded/unfold and/or nested content into an envelope in an “envelope inserter”, (vi) sealing the filled envelope in “sealing module” and (vii) printing recipient/return addresses and/or postage indicia on the face of the mailpiece envelope at a “print station”.
In lieu of modules for inserting and/or sealing the content material into an “envelope”, some mailpiece fabrication systems employ a wrapping system operative to encapsulate the mailpiece content in an outer wrapping material or substrate. Therein, the content material is fed into a substrate/wrap having a pressure-activated adhesive deposited thereon to enclose/seal the content material in a tubular-shaped envelope wrap. More specifically, the content material is fed into a wrapping module which receives a supply of substrate material from a web of rolled material. Before being fed to the wrapping module, an adhesive application module deposits a polymeric adhesive in a predefined two-dimensional pattern on the substrate material. As the substrate material is folded by the wrapping system, an envelope pocket is produced for receipt of the content material.
More specifically, the supply of substrate material is fed from beneath the deck of the wrapping module and turned downstream to define an open-end for accepting a supply of content material. As the substrate and content material is pulled downstream, a one or more guides fold the substrate material inwardly such that the outboard edge portions overlap. Furthermore, a tube-shaped wrap is produced around the content material as the substrate material is drawn together downstream of the open end. The content-filled tubular structure then is passed under a series of pressure rollers to cause the pressure-activated adhesive to form a series of individual pockets having content material in each. Thereafter, the wrapping module includes a cutting roller to separate the content-filled pockets into separate envelopes.
To obtain the throughput advantages of a mailpiece fabrication system, and especially one employing a wrapping system, it is important to maintain the reliability and minimize the downtime of the fabrication system. While a variety of mailpiece fabrication errors can occur to adversely impact throughput, one of the more frequent sources originates from the handling apparatus of the wrapping module. More specifically, difficulties arise when placing the content material into the open end of the tube-shaped wrap such that the content material is placed into and remains at the proper location relative to adhesive deposited along the peripheral edges of the mailpiece.
For example, if the content material shifts longitudinally, i.e., in the direction of the feed path, as the wrapping material is folded over content material, then the edges of the content material may be trapped in one of the bond lines forming the pocket of the envelope. Thereafter, when the tube-shaped wrap is rolled through the pressure rollers and cut into envelopes by the cutting roller, there is no reliable method or system to identify when an envelope has been improperly fabricated.
Should a positioning error occur in the phase nip roller, many envelopes may be incorrectly fabricated before identification and eradication of the error. Inasmuch as the processing error may go unnoticed during mailpiece fabrication, the potential exists for many mailpieces may be delivered with internal content material adhesively bonded to the external wrapping material. Additionally, since the content material may prevent proper sealing of the envelope, a mailpiece may remain open during delivery. As a result, confidential or sensitive information contained in the mailpieces may be inadvertently compromised.
A need, therefore, exists for a method and system for identifying/outsorting improperly fabricated/unsealed envelopes in a mailpiece fabrication system.